Idea-Mill.net

Coffee Tripod

I don't live in the Pottery Barn catalog, so not every comfortable chair in my home has an accompanying end table. Lately I've found myself carting around a small footstool that my young sons stand on to brush their teeth, and place it next to a rocking chair near the fireplace that I like to read in, for the sole purpose of having a place to set my coffee. This keeps it off the floor (and keeps me from kicking it over), but is still too low to reach comfortably. As a makeshift solution it's passable, but not ideal.

Idea: The Coffee Tripod
Picture a square platform about 4" x 4", maybe the same size as a coaster. But instead of a flat bottom it has three telescoping legs that fold down so that they're invisible under the platform when not in use (if you're looking down on it - the idea is for the stowed unit footprint to remain the same size), but that extend on an angle and lock for stability to create a platform about 24" high.

It might even be a coaster when it's not a tripod, so you keep it out in the open and don't have to hunt around for it when you're moving to a chair without an end table - maybe in your living room, but maybe also on your deck, in your yard, on the beach (OK, probably not for coffee there). And if it's small and light enough, it might be a suitable accessory for road warriors. Most seats at airport gates don't have end tables nearby, and how many times have you seen coffee perched precariously on a rolling carry-on, or an armrest a little too narrow?

This product is no blockbuster, I know. But I think there's an increasing probability of niche products turning profits because the rules of marketing and distribution have changed. Remarkable products get talked about (we see evidence online, but most of the talking takes place offline), and what makes a product remarkable is how perfectly suitable it is for a person, and other like-minded people. A product no longer needs to sell 500,000 units in its first year, at a net profit of $20/unit, just to break even on the $10 million TV ad spend to support the launch. Remarkable products find other ways of reaching customers, and can turn profits at much lower quantities as a result.

So if someone wants to take a flyer on this one let me know, and fast. I have to suck down the rest of this java because my son has to brush his teeth.

Hydrating Smart Cup

I used to have a watch with a built-in altimeter (measuring altitude). Instead of a leather or rubber or nylon band with a clasp, it had an elastic band about an inch and a half wide, allowing me to slide it on over a winter coat and wear it on the outside. (Here's one on eBay without the elastic band.) I used to use it snowboarding, so I could see what the vertical drop was for various runs, and then optimize my day on the mountain through the highest possible vertical travel. The watch also had a nifty 'ski' function that, when activated, would monitor significant vertical gains and decreases, and automatically record the number of runs I made. This too would figure into my optimization calculations in my pursuit of statistically perfect recreation.

I hadn't thought of this watch in years, but remembered it a couple of weeks ago when I caught myself (again) nagging my fiancee to drink enough water. I'm of the camp that inadequate hydration is the largest health problem easily addressed. I think it contributes to everything from diminished fitness, to headaches, to elevated heartrate under moderate stress, to general malaise. I have only anecdotal evidence to back up my beliefs, but I don't bother with deep research in this case because what I'm advocating is not a step change in lifestyle, belief systems or even routine. I just think people should drink more water.

It's not unlike the Philosophy professor I had in college who addressed the issue of why he refused to disavow belief in God through simple logic. "You can't offer unequivocal proof that God exists, so it seems logical to dismiss his existence. But what if you're wrong?"

Indeed, hydration may have nothing to do with any of the symptoms I attribute to it. And downing another 4-5 glasses per day might have no affect on the quality of your life, or the lives of the people around you. But what if it does? I for one am not willing to take that risk, and maintain my solid faith that water = good; dehydration = ungood. And this faith is unslakable.

So here's the idea:
A Hydrating Smart Cup that automatically records how many glasses per day someone has drunk, through some sort of sensor/trigger that is tripped when the cup is full, and again when it is empty.  Place the cup on your desk or table and something on it will tell you how many glasses you've consumed that day. The trigger mechanism could either be electronic or (my preference) mechanical, and would have to allow for the fluctuations in water level that occur when people lift the cup to drink. True, the cup can't know if you spilled one or dumped it in the begonias. But you will, and you'll feel dirty and guilty for the rest of the day unless you down another cup off-the-clock to compensate.

There are a couple of solutions just now on the market that play in the same sandbox. One is this HydraCoach Intelligent Water Bottle. While it tracks water consumption throughout the day, it's designed primarily for use during exercise. The HydraCoach folks don't say as much, but it's a water bottle, not a cup. Bottles promote sipping, while most people drink. If I consumed all my daily water by sucking through a plastic nipple, my mouth would end up resembling a fish's. Commendable initiative, but too gadget-y and techy for me, even if I were a sipper and not a chugger. Plus the thing beeps at you to remind you to take a sip, as if your entire day were nothing but a series of wrong answers. That'd be enough to make me a water teetotaler.

The other solution I've found is altogether different, yet - to me - infinitely more elegant. It's the Google Water Tracker gadget, that you can install in your desktop or personal webpage. It's a small widget that simply asks if you're thirsty and allows you to check a box on the screen if you've consumed a cup of water. It's disadvantages are obvious - it only functions while you're in front of a computer. But it's heart is in the right place, and it promotes personal hydrating responsibility without reducing you to an automaton.

My idea, naturally, is superior. Or would be, if someone would take the initiative to implement it.

It might not even be a cup, incidentally. It might be an attachment that hangs inside of your favorite glass, with the trip sensor on the inside and the display on the outside. And it might be used not just to make sure you drink enough water, but also to help remind you when you've drunk too much of your vice beverage of choice, whether that's coffee or diet coke or lager.

Shopping List Generator

From any grocery store's standpoint, I'm a mediocre customer. When I go to the store, I usually have a list in-hand that I scribbled out just before leaving the house. Invariably, 80% of the list never changes, with the remaining 20% added for a particular meal we're aiming for based on a recipe my fiancee saw on the Food Network, or revolving around some of the gourmet frozen meats my father sends us every holiday season.

I'm poor at improvising in groceries so I don't deviate from my list, and also invariably forget something, leaving me to pick it up at the corner deli or even a 7-Eleven. So as far as Safeway is concerned, I'm leaving money on the table - money that they would be happy to have, and also that I would be happy to give them. Their prices are less and their convenience is greater, so if I can do all my shopping in one trip, I'm tickled. Find a way for me to add some variety to my meals or at least streamline the process and I'm locked in for life.

So here's the idea:
The Shopping List Generator

I'm thinking of it as a website but maybe it's a widget or a piece of software, but it has to be interactive and dynamic. On it are all the items I regularly buy, making it easy for me to generate my list every time I shop, or at least the 80% that are usually on it. Selecting or deselecting items is easy, so I can take eggs off my list if my inventory is good, or add extra bananas if I'm showing signs of potassium deficiency.

(Oh, and how does the list get populated in the first place? Maybe this is a way grocery stores can finally put to good use the data in their buyers' club programs. I swipe my Safeway card every trip - surely they could generate a list of my regular purchases pretty quickly.)

Then there's another tier of items I've bought previously, which maybe I'd like to add again. Maybe this will help me remember or recreate some of the recipes we've tried previously. So added to my convenience is some variety.

And then there's the collaborative filtering component, where suggestions are made to me based on what's on my list. Right now, every time I check out at Safeway the register spits out a couple of coupons for items related to my order. More often than not, they're on target and I'd like to buy them. But no way am I going back into the store and then waiting in line again. And no, I don't keep them for next time. I just don't, even though I'd like to. But if I got those targeted messages (based on the same shopping data) before I hit the store, I'm likely to at least add them to my list, and possibly to my basket.

We all know that the best possible scenario for a marketer is to reach a primed prospect with a perfect offer at precisely the right time, which is what I propose with the recommendations above. But what people often forget is that this is the best possible scenario for customers as well. I don't want to see a coupon for Progresso Pasta e Fagioli after I've checked out and forgotten to put it in my cart. That's like sending me a catalog full of striped socks (my favorites) with sale prices that expired yesterday. Save me money, save me time, enrich my life in small ways through variety and serendipity and I'll repay the favor with loyalty and greater wallet share.

But the idea doesn't end there. One of the reasons I have to hit the deli or 7-eleven is not just because I forgot to add something to my list, but I forgot to put it in my cart when I was in that section of the store, and I'm (convinced I'm) just too busy a man to back track. So wouldn't it be great if after my list of staples, past favorites and exciting new products is generated, I then select which store I'm going to (for example, Safeway on Old Georgetown Avenue in Bethesda) and the list is then organized for printing based on the layout of the store I'm going into?

I don't know how complicated this would be, but it seems to me that each store probably follows a similar layout for all their locations, or at the least a handful of layouts. And even if it is onerous, it's the kind of burden that someone should be shouldered by the retailers themselves as it's in their best interests all the way around.

So then add to this network interactivity, so my fiancee can also look over the list and add what she wants. And then modules, like the 'cocktails for 12' option which brings in hors d'ouvres suggestions for us to review and simply 'add-to-list' with a click. Or does the same for Thanksgiving Dinner or Impress your Boss or Camping Vacation (please select how many days you will be living in the woods).

The possibilities for simplifying my life are endless. I've already demonstrated that I'm incapable of simplifying my life myself, however. So I put this idea out there in the hopes that someone will act on it.

Coffee Connoisseur Travel Kit

Now that I've stopped drinking, coffee is my drug of choice. I got hooked on coffee during my first job out of college, when my boss signed me up for a Green Mountain Coffee Roasters subscription program. They're crafty somebodies over at Green Mountain. The minimum order for the subscription was something like 3 pounds every two weeks, roughly the equivalent of about 8 cups a day. I lived alone at the time and, combined with my father's waste-not ethic, it's no surprise I quickly spiralled into addiction.

I don't know if mine is the average addiction, however. I'm not a coffee snob. When I travel and there's nothing in the hotel room but the bitter-bag-o-blend, or I'm at a rest area and the only place open is a Roy Rogers with a half pot of sludge on the hob, I'll still belly up. With me and coffee, it's a bird in the hand philosophy. If I happen to see a Starbucks or Caribou 10 minutes later, I have another hand for another bird.

I probably would be a connoisseur if I had any self-restraint. Or if I had a Coffee Connoisseur Travel Kit. Its purpose would be to enable anyone who loves coffee to enjoy it fresh-brewed wherever they are. It's a self-contained kit that has everything necessary for storing, brewing and - importantly - repeating. Ideal for the coffee lover on the move.

Here's what it might contain:

• French Press
• Portable  Water Heater (this is the missing link, I think - portable water heaters exist, like this one from Coleman that runs on propane. But other power sources would be more appropriate, which I'll get to in a minute)
• Mug(s)
• Canister for coffee beans or grounds
• Portable bean grinder (like this hand-crank)
• Thermos to keep milk or cream chilled
• Small canister for sugar
• Necessary scoops and stirrers
• Travel bag or case

The important question is what actually constitutes 'on the go'? Is it camping or hiking, where you're removed from civilization but want to carry with you some of the creature comforts you're addicted used to? Probably not - it's simply not feasible to be a connoisseur of anything when your bedroom is a 1/16" swatch of nylon and your bathroom is a shovel. There are plenty of camping coffee solutions available, but none that rise above bird-in-the-hand status. Carrying your domicile on your back entails some necessary compromises, connoisseurship among them.

Is it business or vacation travel, typically by air? Here, you'd only be able to use your Kit when you weren't actually in the act of traveling. So carrying it around, checking it onto the plane, and carting it to your hotel room may ultimately yield diminishing returns if the place you're traveling to has decent coffee.

So that leaves car travel. There's enough room in the car for the kit, and little need to carry it anywhere other than door to driveway to motor lodge or tailgate party or campground or fishing boat. I'd start there and then see which of the above components are need-to-have, and which are nice-to-have.

Keeping in mind that the objective is to solve a problem - which would also have to be clearly defined before beginning. Is the problem:

1. The unavailability of B+ or better coffee at periods when decent or better coffee would be desirable
or
2. The unavaiability of A/A+ coffee at periods when premium coffee would be desirable

If the conculsion (via hunch or research or whatever other means available) yields (1), then the bean grinder could be done away with. If you're going full gourmet, it's a necessary inclusion. (And it would have to be a burr grinder, not a blade grinder.)

But the other consideration is how 'unavailable' are we really talking about? Are we on the interstate where we could at least stop for hot water and cold milk? Or do we need to be entirely self-contained, in which case we'd even need a place in the kit for the bottled water used for brewing?

My guess is that if George Foreman can make and market 12 different variations of his grill, there are as many iterations of the Coffee Connoisseur Travel Kit brewing as well, for different applications and functions. The first and easiest to market would be one that relies on existing components: thermos, canisters, french press and spoons - all in a bag and ready for picnics, soccer games, fishing and hunting excursions, and road trips. But a battery or 12-volt auto charger powered water heater could be a real gamechanger, and open up a niche not yet tapped.

At the very least, it would create something to give my gadget-loving father for Christmas, since he already has two of these, three of these and four of these.